Purple Mountains Majesty
by Moojuice Nne of the Mayonnaise
Summary: When Purple extracts a disease unknown to the Irken medical field, it is up to a brave doctor and Red to try to find a cure. Is finished! Yay? R\R (the ending is full of confusion)! ^^
1. Default Chapter

Purple Mountains Majesty By: Nne, the insane fic writer from the stars  
  
*Looks around* Hey...there are still people who read my fics! Thank you thank you thank you! Angsty fic about the Tallest...sorry, Purple!! Pur: I'm sure... Nne: What? ...Yes, you can flame me...*sniff*...an' you can R\R! So please tell me what you think!  
  
Chapter One: Land  
  
The distant sun shot warm waves of rippling light sprawling against the infinite blackness of space, penetrating the shadows and illuminating the scattered spheres of rock and ice. Drifting among them, surrounded by thousands of smaller crafts, the Irken Massive soared into view of the stars, bobbing gently on invisible currents as the huge ship rocketed towards a large, greenish-blue planet slightly "below" the grand Armada. White ribbons of wind and rock spilled off of the Massive's pods, slowly disappearing as the Massive left them behind.  
  
Inside the ship's control room, a team of specially trained Irkens sat at the innumerable monitors, operating the Massive's defense and steering mechanisms. On a raised platform in the middle of the room, the two leaders of the Irkens, Almighty Tallests Red and Purple, stood facing the room- length window in front of them, viewing the sight of their home planet, Irk, slowly rolling into view. The two were exactly alike in stature, but the two had completely different personalities. Red had an outgoing nature, and was never afraid to show that he disapproved of something, while Purple was a mildly withdrawn deciphering master.  
  
Red was staring out of the window with deep claret eyes, sucking a cherry slushie and scratching the base of his antennae. "What is that, a moon or a delivery dude from Foodcourtia?" he asked Purple nonchalantly, elbowing his partner in the stomach, "It looks unfamiliar."  
  
Purple glared at Red with his dark plum eyes. "Stupid, that's a moon."  
  
Red raised an invisible eyebrow at Purple, still sucking loudly on the twisty straw. "I never noticed it before." Purple sighed, crossing his arms over his chest armor. "That's because you never bothered to care. Why you're asking me is not for information, but for a nervous relief. Probably about the meeting with the Planet Jackers and the Demoralized Blobs..."  
  
Red lowered the paper cup. "Maybe..."  
  
Purple yawned, scratching the inside corner of his eye. "You know I'm right."  
  
A small jolt in the Massive's flight silenced the Tallests. A small Irken, heavily clad in black body armor, ran up behind them and saluted formally. "We have just entered the planet Irk's gravitational pull. If you will please assume landing positions, we can begin reentry."  
  
Red snorted and waved him away. "I'm Red, small person. I think I can take a little bumping."  
  
The Irken nodded stiffly, then ran down the steps and headed towards the release bay. Purple watched him go, then grabbed on to a rail with his two thin fingers. "I'm going to have a lot of fun watching you fall..."  
  
Red drew himself up defiantly. "What makes you think that the reentry will be bumpy?"  
  
Purple grinned. "The wind season on Irk has just begun."  
  
Red rolled his eyes, then followed Purple's example and held onto the metal rail as the gargantuan ship glided into reentry position. A small "nosecap" of flame appeared on the upper cone of the ship, then gradually grew larger as the Massive descended. The minor vibrations grew denser as they ran into an upper gust current, jolting the ship to the side. The rest of the Armada waited patiently outside of Irk's gravitational pull. When the Massive was docked, then they would come home.  
  
Purple looked around at the tremor-wracked room and tried not to laugh as the movement aggrivated his throat. Glancing over at Red, he noticed that his partner had the same problem. "Feels different, doesn't it?"  
  
Red simply nodded and looked out of the window, trying to see where the docking base was. Not seeing it, he looked at Purple. "Where the hell are they landing us?"  
  
Purple shrugged.  
  
Red groaned and let go of the rail. Throwing himself down the steps of the platform, he made his way over to the piloting section of the control room. A tiny Irken, not more than three feet, was wrestling with the controls, trying to steer the ship back on course.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
The little female started and halfway turned around. Seeing Red standing behind her, she immediately began to sweat. "I can't get the Massive back on course, sir. We ran into the wind currents..."  
  
"I can see that," he snapped, gently pushing her out of the way and taking the control stick. "So that's why I'm going to help."  
  
"Left!" Purple gleefully called from above. "No...waitaminnit...right!"  
  
Red jerked the stick to the side so hard that the whole ship spun onto its side. The female Irken squeaked as she was thrown off of her feet and into the adjacent wall. Red lost his footing and fell halfway.  
  
Purple was laughing his head off as he cried out the next command. "Its up!!"  
  
Red raised an invisible eyebrow. "Up?"  
  
"The meeting is being held on the raised landing port."  
  
"Ah."  
  
The occupants of the Massive nervously started looking around as the Massive lurched upward, believing that the young pilot controlling the ship was drunk or dead. The engines groaned, spurting white fire as the pressure began to increase. The Engine Room Operators sent transmissions up to the Control Room to see what was going on, but all they got was a quick message. "Gotta get to the meeting."  
  
Red rolled the control stick around once, sending the Massive into a quick spin. Pressing a triangular-shaped button, he threw his hands into the air and cried out, "All hail me!! I remembered how to land this thing!"  
  
The Massive was floating on its side above the docking bay. 


	2. Meeting

Chapter Two is up! Yaya...praise me! Praise ME!!!  
  
Chapter Two: Meeting  
  
The meeting room was a huge, domed room of stained glass windows and metal walls. The zenith of the dome was crowned with an elaborate map of the stars and planets. At the end of the room, some 1.5 miles from the entrance, a long table, in which three occupants sat, was placed in front of the only clear window, which was a wall-length, thin panel of glass. One of the aliens at the table was comparable with a large blob of white jello with three eyes and a mild temper. The other two were heavily armored, squat beings, who were whispering to each other impatiently.  
  
"Nauurr? Eot?? won't be pleased with the wait. I'm going to go see what's taking them so long." One of the Jackers pushed the cushioned seat back and stood up.  
  
"Don't be a fool." the other hissed edgily, pulling his comrade back down, "They're ship just docked. They'll suspect..."  
  
"The hell with them if they suspect anything!"  
  
The white blob shot a look at the Jackers. "You're pushing it."  
  
"Who gives you the right to speak?"  
  
"I think I am entitled to speak in this room!" The white blob turned slightly red. "And besides, you're the ones who are being yelled at, not me. I just came here to complain."  
  
"About what? Your race is a failing one anyway. Your people would be graced just to know that we were going to throw them into our sun." The Jacker's lips curled in a sneer. "I bet that you wouldn't even have the guts to fight us out if we caught you off guard."  
  
The blob whimpered, turning from red to a cold blue. "I think you guys are bullys."  
  
One of the Jackers snorted, prying wood off of the table. "We can be much more than bullys. We can b-"  
  
"-'We can be complete losers and screw up this meeting!"  
  
The two Jackers and the relieved blob turned towards the two figures hovering towards them from half a mile away.  
  
"Great," the Jacker mumbled, scowling. "he heard."  
  
"Yup!" Purple called out, cruising up to the table and placing both hands on the edge. "You were supposed to settle these matters with us. That's why we had to cut the planet trip and come racing back here because-"  
  
"-You two races can't seem to get along." Red butted in, pulling back the chair next to Purple and examining it. "You didn't put any bombs under this stuff, did you?"  
  
"No," the Jackers snapped, glancing at each other. "Not that we can remember."  
  
"Oh," Red sighed, pulling a metal device from under the table. "This?"  
  
Purple gave a suprised glance at the Jackers, then took it from Red and threw it out of the window. "Now, lets get to business. You. White blob thing. What are you called?"  
  
The Demoralized Blob cleared his throat. "My name is Oleeg."  
  
Red looked at the Jackers. "You have names weirder than that?"  
  
"I am Yur?? Op???, and that is my comrade, ???Yur."  
  
"Have any nicknames?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Never mind. Oleeg. What is the complaint."  
  
"The Planet Jackers have threatened to throw our planet into our sun because they are running out of all available recourses. You are not giving them enough planets to harvest, and that is putting my people in danger."  
  
Purple's jaw dropped. "Who's side are you on? We give the Jackers freakin' six planets a year! That means that we are forfeiting six chances of world conquest! You damn people don't even appreciate what we're doing for you!"  
  
Red started clapping. "Here here! May I add in that we also supply aid to those who need it?"  
  
Purple looked down at Red. "We kill them."  
  
Red looked up, confused. "Oh, really? That's too good for them, then."  
  
Red turned his eyes to the three figures in front of him. "We're giving you no more chances, Jackers. I hate to believe that you go through an asinine amount of six planets per month just to keep that half-star alive."  
  
"We were merely making a suggestion towards them," one of the Jackers shrugged, "but certainly not planning to do it...yet..."  
  
"That's exactly what you're going to avoid from now on, isn't it!" Red hissed, narrowing his raspberry-black eyes. "I'm not going to put up with this kind of BS any more!"  
  
The Jackers shifted uncomfortably. One of them made a stretching guesture, which Red shot an angry look at.  
  
Purple's antannae twitched, quivering upright. He held them down with one hand. They did that a lot, which he figured was just a sensitive thing. "We're also going to cut down on the planet number," he added, "because you may be pressed to spend the planets wisely. You also might want to look into another place to live."  
  
The Jackers protested. "We're not leaving."  
  
Purple glanced at Red. He was examining his hand armor.  
  
Red looked up at his partner, then back at the white blob. "You are going to be more careful around the Jackers. That is an order. You should be able to settle these disputes by yourselves."  
  
Purple's antannae twitched again, this time in more jerky movements. "Is it stuffy in here or is it just me?" he whispered to Red, who was dismissing the other three.  
  
Red took a short breath. "No. I think it's cold."  
  
Purple nodded. "Me."  
  
"I don't want to do that again," Red breathed as the two Tallest exited the meeting room to go to the Control Center back on solid ground. "Why can't we assimilate all of them and get it over with?"  
  
Purple grinned. "I wish we could."  
  
^...^  
  
The Tallest's rooms were across from each other in the Control Center, which also served as a hotel for the Massive crew. The rest of the crew was on the lower levels, while the Tallests had the entire upper floor to themselves. The two were familiar, but the color differed entirely. Red's room had nothing but dark crimson walls, and Purple's had a mixture of plum and black.  
  
Purple was currently working in the viewing room, which had a ceiling and walls made of glass. He and Red had worked out a way to evenly divide the huge stack of bills, new laws, and complaints, so that neither of them had to kill themselves with frustration over the seven-foot high blockage that met them every morning.  
  
Purple skimmed over a complaint, tapping the pen against his armored leg. "We want to be given more choices for planets?"  
  
He scribbled the word 'denied' on the message and tossed it aside. "Screw them."  
  
Red was inwardly raging about the complaints in his room. Sprawled on the floor, sucking on another cherry slushie, all he put was a large 'D' on every single complaint that he came across. Once in a while he read the laws, and sometimes he went over the bills for a laugh.  
  
" 'I have come to a reasonable conclusion that you-'"  
  
Red looked towards the door. "I'm currently making fun of stoopid short people. What do you need, Pur?"  
  
Purple opened the door and leaned against the frame. "I'm going for a bucket of ice. Need any?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"'Kay."  
  
Purple shut the door and hovered down the hall, glancing at the murals of the galaxy on the ceiling. Reaching the ice machine at the end of the hall, he slid the bucket under the dispenser--  
  
--and a wave of pain caught him off guard as he bent down. Gasping, he straightened up and gripped his stomach. The pain came in two more short waves, then spread out until his whole middle section was sore. Purple, confused, gently lifted the stomach armor slightly and poked at the green skin beneath. It didn't look unhealthy, and there was no water on it.  
  
Damn slushie, he hissed to himself as he watched the ice fill the bucket. Gave my stomach a brain freeze...  
  
Taking the bucket back to his room, he continued to work on the large stack of papers. Outside, the sun slowly sank below the horizon, bathing Irk in a warm red light that soon sank into black shadows.  
  
  
  
_____________________________________________________ Spooooooooookkkkkkkyyyyyyyy....O.o. Chapter Three on its way, an' I promise to make it longer to bore you with angst!! Pur: ...*sweat drop* Nne: Glomp! *Tackles Pur* Doom you!!! 


	3. Lift

Yes, angst and Purple go together well...*evil grin* Yaya...read! This took too long *wince* so I'll try to postes some more soon...  
  
Chapter Three: Lift  
  
"Ten minutes to departure. All battle cruisers report to your stations. All Massive crew members report to your respective stations. Ten minutes to departure."  
  
The Almighty Tallests were being escorted down a chrome hallway in the Massive by a short Irken, dubbed "Guide Dude" by the sticky name tag he wore on the front of his blue uniform. Groups of crew members rushed by, pausing in their sprint to quickly salute the Tallests before they galloped on. Small tremors rippled through the walls of the ship as the engines fired up. Steam jettisoned out of the vents and drifted up into the atmosphere. Flagships and vootcruisers, already in the air and ready to go, hummed around the Massive like bees around their queen. The Cargo Bay was being flooded by small carrier ships, loading the fuel and extra parts needed for the trip ahead. The Massive was continuing its everlasting flight around the galaxies, scouting out new planets and mapping devisions to be conquered by the growing empire.  
  
"Five minutes to departure. All stations are armed. Please clear the Massive of any debris, such as stupid Irkens who think they can get past our impenetrable security. Five minutes to departure."  
  
The Guide Dude stopped and turned around, gesturing to the rooms on either side of the hallway. "These, as you know, are your rooms. Please remain in them until we are out of the proximity of Irk, for your own safety. Thank you."  
  
Purple nodded, Red waved him away, and they disappeared into their rooms. The walls matched their colors, but rest was much more richly furnished than the rooms they had stayed in the night before. Purple hovered over to the gargantuan window facing Irk and watched with half-closed eyes as his planet drifted away. The room was furnished with a large viewing monitor in front of the window, a small kitchen area, bedroom, and bathroom. The room's dark violet colors absorbed the strands of sunlight spilling in from the window. I hope we get the Crystallines to work with us, he thought grimly, resting his chin on this claw. They're not even ready to begin the Invasion surrender...  
  
He winced as a jolt of pain shot from his chest cavity up to his throat. It had only started several days earlier, which he figured was just anxiety. But now that they were off the ground, he had no reason to be nervous...  
  
A light knock on the door broke him out of his thoughts. "Pur, come look at this!"  
  
Pur glided over and opened the door. Red gesturing to his window, facing opposite from Irk. It was slightly larger than Purple's, wrapping around a corner and spreading out to almost two walls, but Red's interruption was outside.  
  
Two Flagships, Irken insignias facing the Massive, were rising at the same angle as the Massive's ascent, with the smaller vootcruisers and battle cruisers clustered along with them. Ribbons of white solar winds collided with the ships, and a light white cloud trailed behind every ship in the Armada. Purple smiled.  
  
"This," Red declared, throwing his arm around Purple's shoulder, "is what the rest of the galaxy will bow down to."  
  
Purple opened his mouth to reply when he caught Red's suprised stare from out of the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"  
  
Red withdrew his arm. "You okay?"  
  
Purple crossed his thin arms, thin claws tapping. "What, do I look freakin' scared?"  
  
Red snorted. "No. Your skin feels cold and...wet. Trying to commit suicide?"  
  
Purple's eyed widened. Tentatively, he fingered his bare forearm. It did feel damp...but when he touched a particular spot, he noticed that the skin around it turned gray. "Nothing's wrong."  
  
Red shook his head. "Anyway, we're going down for a medical in several hours. Maybe you can find a shrink in that time."  
  
Purple smirked. "Have you set up communication with the Crystallines?"  
  
"Hell no," Red grunted, "You think they would listen?"  
  
"You need to pound it into their inferior brains that they need to participate in the Galactic Search. Not sneak up on them and piss them off some more."  
  
"Look, I'm going up to the Transmission Room to figure this out," Red snapped, floating over to the door. "You handle the Communications. Make sure that everything I say is recorded, and everything they say is recorded, documented, witnessed, whatever it takes to get them to listen."  
  
Purple nodded and hovered towards the opposite hall's door.  
  
"Oh, Purple," Red called over his shoulder. "Stay away from the advisors. They're going to eat you alive if you say anything about this transmission."  
  
Purple nodded and passed through the door to continue down the east hallway to the Communications Area. He chewed his lip, worried. He hoped this would work...  
  
"Excuse me, my Tallest?"  
  
Purple half-turned around and instinctively looked down, glowering. An Irken in a doctor's white uniform stood below him, holding a clipboard and staring up at him with large yellow eyes.  
  
"What do you want? I'm running a tight schedule here." Purple's eyed darkened.  
  
The doctor shifted her weight to her other foot. "Sorry, my Tallest. My name is General Practitioner Peprik. I'm executing a series of tests and health evaluations down in the Medical Wing, and I was wondering if you and Red could be checked...to make it easy with the rest of the crew that you're okay."  
  
"Well, you don't see another one of me wearing red, do you?"  
  
"Um...no, my Tallest...but one of you would be fine."  
  
Purple's eyed widened. "One of us?"  
  
Peprik stammered, "I'm...sorry, my Tallest. I meant no disrespect. I was simply pointing out that it would put the crew's mind at rest to know that our beneficial leaders are going to stay healthy." She looked down at her feet. "Please, my Tallest. It will generally pause my overseeer's complaints..."  
  
Purple sighed and knelt down. "Tell you what, you make this test quick and I'll deal with your boss. I'm kinda busy right now, so you'll have to hurry."  
  
Peprik grinned and saluted. "Right, sir. Please follow me."  
  
O.o  
  
Red flicked his antennae several times for relief and floated up to the platform where a huge screen faced him. Hardly any Irkens were in here, only the operators in the sub-room to his left. The screen flashed from black to fuzzy gray. He looked over his shoulder, expectant, and the blue- eyed Irken gave him a salute. He turned around too see a projection of an angry-looking, multi-joined, diamond-shaped alien staring back at him.  
  
Okay, Pur, start taping this mess...  
  
"What in the bloody hell is this!?" The crystalline growled, shaking his three-fingered fist. "I was told this transmission was a friendly call!"  
  
"When you get a transmission from the Irkens," Red snapped back, "it's to tell you that you've either freakin' screwed up on your duties or we're going to freakin' screw you up. Shut up and let me talk. First question: what is your name?"  
  
"Zoxinair."  
  
"I've been recieving reports that you've not been participating in the Galactic Search. Is this true?"  
  
"What the hell is the Galactic Search?" "You know damn well what the Search is!" Red roared, pounding his fist on the metal ring around the platform. "Selected planets are supposed to report everything about the planets marked for conquest. You were selected to study Paymoreis. It has also been stated that your planet--Cleareria-- has not reported anything about Paymoreis since we first assigned you to the planet? Got an explanation?"  
  
Zoxinair looked around, trying not to sweat. "I...I'm not sure...your race doesn't need help from an inferior species, does it? I mean...you probably don't need our help."  
  
Red's ire ballooned. "What the hell does that have to do with anything? The Irkens have to put someone to work! What do you think we want you to do, sit back and watch?!"  
  
Zoxinair snorted. "Damn you. I hate you. We're not serving your damn business or doing anything for your pitiful race."  
  
"I'm going to obliterate your planet," Red shot back simply. "You have pushed us too far."  
  
"My Tallest!!"  
  
Red turned around. "What do you want? This is a formal transmission? You're not even five feet high!"  
  
Zoxinair snickered. Red glared at the Crystalline. "If I had a third finger I would give you the bird right now."  
  
The yellow eyed Irken behind Red saluted, out of breath. "Sir, I'm terribly sorry for interrupting your conversation. It's Almighty Tallest Purple, sir. He's...he's not...he's contracted something, my Tallest. We don't know what it is, but he wants you to come down."  
  
"What? Why can't he handle this on his own? Can't we use our advanced medical technology? What has he contracted?"  
  
The Irken cleared her throat. "He wants you to come down because...because the doctors are wanting to put him in the Medical Examination Tube..."  
  
"Why the hell do they want to do that?"  
  
"Because," she floundered helplessly, "we don't know what it is."  
  
O.o  
  
Insanity! Yes, it's a cliffhanger...but chapter four will be up faster! I burned my writer's block and used it for firewood...*warm*. Yaya! 


	4. Month One

*Sweat* I wrote this whole thing down before I typed it...*sigh* Hope you like it!"  
  
Chapter Four: Month One  
  
Purple slumped onto the table on which the heart monitor resided, closing his confusion-filled eyes, shutting out the chaos swarming around him. He listened to his gentile heartbeat, noting that there was a considerable break in the steady pattern when his throat constricted and pain reared up. He looked at his hand to see himself shaking. From fear? Hell no.  
  
He heard the hollering and rushing momentarily die down, and whispers snaked themselves around the room.  
  
"Where is he."  
  
It was a command, not a question. Purple raised his head and tenderly flicked his antennae upward. "They're using me for a lab test, Red. No problem."  
  
Red stormed over. "While you were playing hospital down here, I guess you were psychically controlling Communications?"  
  
Purple's antennae dropped, numbing. Not good. "I'm sorry, Red. I was asked to come by an aspiring--damn!!" He clutched his stomach.  
  
Red's eyes widened. "I'll have to see this aspiring damn."  
  
Purple's antennae convulsed and lay limp. "Nn...ever...mind..."  
  
He closed his mouth, tasting blood. He prayed that Red wasn't listening to the heart monitor.  
  
"Tallest Red? Excuse me."  
  
Peprik saluted both of the Tallest and moved over to Purple.  
  
"Sorry, my Tallest," she whispered to him, "But can you please cooperate?"  
  
Red rolled his eyes. Purple nodded. Peprik took his arm and slid a needle into the vein, drawing blood. As it filled the container, her yellow eyes narrowed. Withdrawing the needle, she held up the container.  
  
The blood was filled with white blobs, and it looked almost distiled in the fact that the stuff sticking to the sides was leaky and watery. "I'll go have this checked."  
  
Red's jaw dropped. "Are those supposed to be in there?" he asked, pointing to the white substances.  
  
Peprik looked uneasily at Purple, then hurried away. Red turned back to Purple, who was bent in half on the chair. "Looks like you picked something up."  
  
"N...no...kidding..."  
  
"But back to the more important stuff. The Crystalline guy-- Z...something...denied any knowledge of knowing about the Galactic Search."  
  
"That's not possible," Purple countered. "We informed all of the conquered planets of the GS. Even the planets we haven't conquered--which are few-- have been informed."  
  
"He obviously forgot. Of course, you didn't record it..."  
  
Purple ignored him and watched his displayed heart pattern. "I couldn't be there...You have witnesses."  
  
"You're right...but the Galactic Search is important. They're responsibility--"  
  
"--I know, Red! Look, I'll wait until they give me a serum to halt this, then I'll help deal with it. 'Kay?" Purple's eyes dimmed.  
  
Red half-closed his eyes. "Okay. As soon as Peprik comes back, get up to Treansmissions. I'll be waiting."  
  
Purple raised his hand, then dropped it and looked the other way. Red turned around and glided towards the door. Purple was acting weird. Maybe the sickness had gotten to his head...Red paused as he passed the Testing Area. Peprik was consulting a fat, short doctor, holding the test sample of Purple's blood and gesturing towards the computer behind her. Her eyes were full of worry. Red's stomach dropped. As he turned to go, Peprik caught sight of him and raced towards the door. Red, ignoring her, continued on.  
  
"My Tallest!"  
  
"Yes, yes, very amusing," Red called back. "All hail us."  
  
"Sir, I...have news." Peprik was rushing after him.  
  
"I don't need to know. Just cure Purple and send him up."  
  
Peprik stopped. "I would've thought you cared for Almighty Tallest Purple's well-being."  
  
Red halted. "Can't he take care of himself?"  
  
Peprik turned the test tube over and over. "Really?"  
  
Red glared at her. "Are you implying anything?"  
  
"Am I?"  
  
"Don't get smart with me," he hissed, snatching the little doctor off of the ground. "Tell me what's wrong with him."  
  
"Do you really need to know?"  
  
Red's eye twitched. "Yes."  
  
Peprik shuddered. "We...don't know what it is..."  
  
Red dropped her. "So...you don't have a serum."  
  
Peprik bit her lip.  
  
"You don't, do you."  
  
"...No. Not yet."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"But we still need to run a few more tests, sir. Then we can find out what it is and how to reverse the effects of it..."  
  
"How quickly can you do that?"  
  
Peprik shook her head. "It cannot be rushed, sir. First we need to identify it, then classify, then locate where in his system it is, then create a serum because we've never seen it before."  
  
"Give me an estimate."  
  
"Identification and classification: a week. Location: three days. Creation of a serum: unpredictable."  
  
"Are you psychic?"  
  
"No," Peprik examined Purple's blood sample. "I told you it takes time."  
  
"Even with our advanced medical technology?"  
  
"Affirmative, my Tallest."  
  
Red folded his arms. "Could you at least show me how his blood reacts?"  
  
"I guess so, sir." Peprik held the door open for his as he floated in. "But we can't tell what it is."  
  
She inserted the cartridge into a metal box and ran her palm over a blue sphere. The screen that came up had a large view of the sample and three insets. She made a vertical slashing movement over the sphere, and the middle inset was brought up. It showed Purple's watery blood being sucked into the white blobs and spat back out, diluted and dimmer. "It looks like his blood's being changed."  
  
"You're right. It also looks like his blood is becoming watery. Which means that his blood pressure would be dropping. But we have the blood pressure monitored, and it is normal."  
  
Red's heart dropped. "Well, what is your solution?"  
  
Peprik sighed. "We...we want to keep him in the Examination Tube. For further tests..."  
  
"Waitaminnit, you're shoving him in a tube like he's waiting to be put on an autopsy table? You can't do that!"  
  
"It's the only way!!" Peprik exploded, whirling around. "If that's the best for Purple, then I'll have to do it!"  
  
"He is a leader! He rules with me! He can't do his part jammed in a freakin' test tube!"  
  
"If you keep shielding him from our help, then there won't be any hope for recovery!"  
  
Red closed his mouth.  
  
"Do you think that--" Peprik gestured towards the screen, "--is something that can be shaken off?!"  
  
"No," Red growled. "But he can beat it without being in a test tube."  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
"Never doubt a Tallest's word."  
  
"I do."  
  
Red scratched his antennae. Peprik kept pondering over the screen. "I don't think you should leave him, Red."  
  
"Why? Do I have to hold his hand?"  
  
Suddenly, an alarm began to wail over the intercom. "All Medical Personnel to the Medic Room C immediately. All Medical Personnel to the Medic Room C immediately."  
  
Peprik's eyes filled with fear. As she rushed past him, she whispered back, "You have to hold on to his soul."  
  
O.o Purple watched with pain-filled eyes as the preserving fluid splashed around his new hospital gown. Two electrodes were connected to his numb antennae, and every aspect of his nervous and respiratory systems were displayed on monitors all around the room. Needles stuck into him in so many places that his skin looked raw.  
  
Doctors swarmed around the room, controlling the level of fluid flowing into the tube where he now half-floated, partially being held up by two wires coming out of his pak and connected to the outer computer.  
  
A screen folded out in front of his view. A doctor was typing instructions to him. He would be able to breathe in this stuff, and once it was done filling he would be able to hear them without the use of monitors for communication.  
  
He took a deep breath, which was cut off by a stab of pain. He looked around, then up at the observing area. Red was standing there, flanked by Peprik. Purple stared back up at Red's unforgiving eyes.  
  
Purple raised his clawed hand and pressed his two fingers up to the glass.  
  
O.o Insanity! Praise me!! Praise ME!!  
  
Pur:...*glare*  
  
Nne: Awww...poor Pur... 


	5. Month Two

*Jaw drops at the reviews* Wow...Purple, they...they enjoy it? *Tears up* Thank you...I...I love you...*Quote GIR in "Rise of the Zitboy" to the pizza dude...*  
  
Whoooeeee! S'a weekend!! WEEK'S END!!!! Now I will log in more angst of doom...just for all you people still coaching me on!  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Invader Zim or any of the characters!!! Erm...except Peprik...she's an original. Yup. I'm gonna be the brain surgeon of insanity when I get older...messing with people's heads...*poke poke*  
  
Enjoy Month Two!!!  
  
Chapter Five: Month Two  
  
Almighty Tallest Red paced the hall in front of the testing room, looking expectingly at the clock above the metal door. The room had no windows, so Red could not see what the doctors were doing to his critically sick partner. They had run some test earlier that month and had found the majority of the white matter to be gathering around Purple's chest cavity and lower lungs. Today, of course, was the beginning of the real challenge: finding out what was happening to Purple's weakened body.  
  
A small green light lit up beside the door with a light chime, and the door slid open as a doctor stepped out. "We've completed half of the test, so you can go in while he's recuperating."  
  
"Recuperating? From what?"  
  
"All we did was run him through the concentrated radioactivity unit to isolate the foreign material."  
  
"Isolate? Its floating around inside of him?"  
  
The Irken rolled her yellow eyes, crossing her arms. "Not quite, my Tallest. But you'd better go in there anyway and ask him how he's feeling. He won't tell us."  
  
"So he's being a stubborn ass again. Fine, Peprik, whatever you say."  
  
Red looked around when he stepped into the room, suprised. It was completely white, with a large piece of equipment in the middle of the room. It was connected to the tube in which Purple floated, eyes closed, yawning.  
  
"You really clash with this room, Pur. You should dye your eyes florescent green."  
  
Pur cast a glance over at Red. "No thanks. I would gouge out my own eyes for fear of blindness from the exploding color."  
  
"Good idea." Red floated up to his fellow Tallest and tapped the glass. "Did they take you out of the other one and put you in this one?"  
  
Sadly, Purple shook his head. "The doctors argued that I would be too weak to walk, so they...they freakin' wheeled me down here."  
  
Red held his laugh in at the thought. "Very amusing, Pur. I should've gotten it on tape."  
  
Purple snorted. Red noticed that his speech, although not yet slurred, sounded slower and more forced. Probably just the fluid.  
  
"So...what's it feel like?"  
  
Purple's soft eyes lost their spark. "What part, being stuck in a test tube or having white things messing me up from the inside?"  
  
"Mostly I'd like to hear about the white things, because right now I really don't give a damn about anything else."  
  
"Ah. The doctors have done five tests so far this morning. The first one was just run a scan over the heart/lungs area. The second was pinpoint the biggest problem, which they won't tell me, of course. The third and fourth tests were unsuccessful. The doctors tried to find out what it could stand, but they ended up ripping a hole in my chest the size of your head. The fifth was the radioactive scan-thingie over there--" he pointed to the large machine behind him "--and they haven't gotten results back yet."  
  
Red looked at Purple's chest area and saw a reddish-black pit behind the white gown. Confused, he turned away. "Does it hurt yet?" No answer. Then,  
  
"...Yes."  
  
They both listened to the thrum of the Massive.  
  
"Red? Where are we?"  
  
"Over the Triple Binary."  
  
"Oh. We're that far?"  
  
"We took a detour. The pilots didn't want to jolt you around so much after they learned that you were sick."  
  
Purple's eyes sparked. "You told them?"  
  
Red shrugged. "No. They kinda figured that you were missing after stalking me for a week. If I'm there, Purple's gotta be there, right? Thanks for ruining my independence."  
  
Purple glared at him, which wasn't very disturbing, mainly because Purple's eyes had taken on an off-white film color. "Oh, yes, thank you, Red, for not freakin' telling them that I still can make it!"  
  
Just then, Peprik stepped in with a sheet of paper in her hand. "Hello, my Tallests," she saluted, then turned to Red. "We're doing the rest of the testing right now. You'll have to leave."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Peprik shook her head. "Look who's being the ass now. It's for sanitation purposes, my Tallest. You'll be able to ask him afterwards." She herded him out of the door.  
  
Red turned around just as the door was closing. Through the diminishing crack in the door he saw Peprik hold up the paper, and Purple's expression fell.  
  
The door closed.  
  
O.o  
  
"You ready?"  
  
Purple nodded. "So what are we going to do now?"  
  
Peprik fastened the plastic mask over her face. "We're going to take a sample of the actual stuff. I put some anesthetic in, so you'll feel minimal pain."  
  
"Not like I'm a stranger to it," Purple mumbled as the needle approached the gaping hole in his chest cavity. "Hey, when are you going to seal this up?"  
  
"When this test is over," Peprik called. "I'm going in!"  
  
The robotic-arm controlled needle slid in behind his breastbone and up and around his heart. He felt a squishy mass behind being tugged at, then a slight jolt of pain as is tore loose.  
  
"Got it!" Peprik cried happily, pulling the arm out.  
  
"Good," Purple gasped, breathing hard. Something had constricted. He watched as the robot arm with the squishy wad of white stuff drew away from him and placed the material in a clear box. "Now can you seal me up?"  
  
Peprik took the box and looked at it. "What the hell is that?"  
  
Purple shook his head. Peprik moved the box slightly.  
  
Click.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Purple snapped his head around.  
  
"Look," Peprik held it up. "There's something hard in the midst of that stuff."  
  
Peprik leaned down and spoke into the intercom. "I need assistant 7433 to report to CRU room, please. Assistant 7433."  
  
Soon, a stocky green-eyed Irken wearing a lab coat stumbled into the room. "Reporting, Assistant 7433 Neo. Do you need something?"  
  
"Here," Peprik handed him the box. "Be extremely careful and take it down to analysis. I want a report within the hour."  
  
"Yes, ma'am." Neo sprinted away.  
  
"Let's get back to patching you up," Peprik turned to Purple. "Hold still, please."  
  
"So--damn...so you found that in the whi--dammit!--white stuff?"  
  
Peprik jerked the arm controls to the right, tightening the surgical thread. "I don't even know yet, my Tallest. Once we get that big of a sample back I'll be able to decode the entire dis--erm, problem."  
  
Purple was silent as she sewed the flaps of gray-green skin back into place. As she knotted the last thread, she looked up at him. "I suggest you try to get some rest, my Tallest. You're not going to be able to fight this unless you replenish your strength."  
  
"Thanks, Peprik." Purple closed his film-covered eyes once more and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that there was something irreversibly wrong with him. Peprik slipped out and closed the door softly behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief, then dread sank down like a blanket. That substance was not supposed to be hard. It wasn't even detectable on the computer, so they had had to go in from the front. She cringed. Shaking the sick feeling off, she made her way down to the analysis lab, where the boxed sample was set in the computer's analyze area. Neo, of course, had once again forgotten to run the test himself. She rolled the blue orb in front of her once, and two robotic arms folded up and out of the sides of the analyze area's side, poised over the mass.  
  
Putting her arms in the gloves that controlled the robotic arms, she began to probe the middle section. There was a hard lump in the middle. It wasn't giving at all. She peeled the infectious white stuff away and revealed a dark colored sphere about the size of her fingerprint. She attempted to pick it up, but it slipped away and enfolded itself between the flaps of white. Taking a deep breath, she carefully felt around for it where she had last seen it, but nothing was there.  
  
"The damn thing moves?" she hissed to herself as she searched. "That's odd..."  
  
Suddenly, the white mass jerked three times, convulsing. Peprik withdrew the arms and watched with fear. It wasn't changing color; it looked as if it were being tossed around on the inside.  
  
"This asinine action has to be a mistake," she reassured herself. "It cannot be real..."  
  
As soon as it stopped, Peprik tenderly poked it with one of the arms. It did not move. What she did hit, however, scared her more than any disease ever could.  
  
As she pulled the arm out, there were three spherical balls, each the same size as the one she had tried to pick up. They were connected in a triangular shape. Small red dots appeared on all three, and they began turning each other, tearing the arm to shreds, slowly. Panicked, Peprik attempted to shake it off, but it was latched on by means of a long, thin rod in the middle.  
  
But the turning began to slow down and suddenly stop. The rod folded in on itself and the three circles separated, dropped and disappeared into their disease. Peprik cleared her throat. "Computer, what just happened?"  
  
"Identify subject, please."  
  
"I don't know. Can't you give me an educated guess?"  
  
"Negative. Programming unavailable."  
  
"What is it doing?"  
  
"Subject Unknown shows no signs of radioactivity. Subject Unknown does show signs of undetected bacteria stores, viruses, and Unknown Subject Two."  
  
"Bring up Unknown Subject Two."  
  
The screen was projected, and the circular ball was shown.  
  
"What does Unknown Subject Two consist of?"  
  
"Requested data unknown."  
  
Peprik slapped her forehead. "What activity is going on."  
  
"Data unknown."  
  
"That's not possible!"  
  
"Data requested not available."  
  
Peprik punched the shut-down button on the console and the screen disappeared. She looked at the white blob, hardly breathing. "That...thing...wasn't there before...I must have missed it..."  
  
The thing quivered, taunting her.  
  
Go ahead. Try me.  
  
Peprik's antennae lowered sadly. The thought of Purple...being torn apart from the inside...she squeezed her dull yellow eyes shut. It would not happen. She would not let it happen...it would not happen...  
  
And yet, as the white blob quivered there like a live Demoralized Blob, she wondered if it had already reached the point where nothing could be done about it. It wasn't a large sample, but the round, spiky objects...had it duplicated...or did she just skip over them?  
  
She swiveled in the chair, rocking her head back and forth. If it was concentrated near her Tallest's heart and lung area, it posed a fatal threat if the spheres came out again. What confused her was that it hadn't happened already. What did it react to? When would it react? Would any warning signs be given?  
  
Peprik chewed her bottom lip and gazed upward. The answers would come only by more testing. But every time she performed them, Purple looked more helpless and lonely. It was all in his eyes, which, instead of the healthy, rich violet they had been, had withdrawn in their grandeur to a dusty, pale lavender. He approved the tests only because he had to. She could tell. Then again, Tallest Red...  
  
Peprik grinned weakly as she thought of Red. He was worried, all right. She had seen the hatred boiling in his crimson eyes at the thought of his partner being put in the tube. The two were bonded by a simple vow of leadership; one could not make due without the other. They were used to it.  
  
She perked her antennae. She would have to put her Tallest through another test again. Not that he wouldn't make it...but he would have to go through an extra recuperation day. She shook her head. It had to be done.  
  
Wearily pushing herself out of the chair, Peprik made her way over to the door and passed into the hall leading up to the testing room. She hoped Red wasn't following her. That would be a problem.  
  
Purple was figuring out the velocity of the Massive compared to the Flagships when Peprik trudged in. He barely glanced at her as she set the huge machine up for work. "Bad day?"  
  
Peprik shook her head. "Maybe..."  
  
Purple stopped scribbling on the side of the tube with his finger and looked at the machine behind him. "Another test?"  
  
"I'm afraid so," Peprik admitted, turning the test tube around so it faced a giant piece of machinery that looked like a super sized laser. "This one's quite awkward, since you'll still be in the tube. This will record what the white substance is doing to you."  
  
"Did you find anything unusual about the sample you took earlier?"  
  
Peprik ran her hand over a thin rectangle of glass. The machinery powered up. "I can't understand it," she admitted, "so I'm running this to clarify some...suspicions."  
  
She sat back and watched as the laser fired a thin ray of crimson light onto Purple's chest. A screen came up in front of it. There was Purple's chest armor; as the laser drilled in she could see his light green skin break. The laser hit the first obstacle--his aorta--and spread its light around the proximity. Peprik, her heart in her throat, enlarged the hologram and cleared it.  
  
At first, all she saw was his slowly beating heart, with just a few jumps and halts. But as it became more defined, she saw that his left and right ventricles were coated with the white stuff, along with the heavily burdened aorta. It was covered with the infectious blob all the way past his heart to the lower lung area. His lungs, on the other hand, were clear, except for an unnatural shadow on the lower lung area. As she watched, the white stuff spread itself down the aorta in slow waves every couple of heartbeats.  
  
Peprik blinked, unbelieving. She stepped away from the monitor. The dust shadow...was that the stuff that was hidden in the white mass?  
  
Purple looked at her. "Something wrong? What, do I really look that bad?"  
  
Peprik's eyes filled with tears. "S...sir? W...will you excuse me...fo...for a sec...ond..."  
  
Purple watched her as she stumbled out into the hall. Pressing her back against the cold wall, she internally battled to keep the grief from overwhelming her. The disease had spread much faster than she had planned for. He could not shake this off in time for them to find a serum.  
  
"Peprik?"  
  
Peprik hiccuped and looked upward. Red was standing there, concerned. "What's wrong? Other doctors chewing you up again?"  
  
Peprik shook her head wildly, her antennae swinging. "Tallest Purple...Sir...he's...the white...it's covering his...it's suffocating him, sir. I can't find a serum to stop it in time! It's gone too far..."  
  
The news struck Red like a punch in the stomach, but he held emotions down to ask one question. "How much time do you think he has?"  
  
Peprik wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Considering...this started...several...months...ago...I predict..."  
  
She hiccuped. "I'd stretch it out to...two or three more..."  
  
Red's antennae dropped against his skull. "Have you told him?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
Red snorted softly, then opened the door. "I'm always the hero."  
  
O.o  
  
Nne: Yes, yes, very amusing! I type lots... To answer some questions about how he got it (I realize it's not the best plot), go back to the first two chapters and read!! The Jacker makes a stretching motion...yeah, that part. Kind of a context thingie.  
  
Pur: *rolls eyes* Yeah. Context. Your fics are bologna! Or is it baloney...?  
  
Nne: I hate that word!! Next month comes soon! 


	6. Operation

Thank God for 24 hours in a day! Now I will baffle you with my superior brain meats.  
  
Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Invader Zim or any related characters. I am entitled to creating Peprik. Yay for Nne.  
  
I like to make my fics angsty an' keep them that way. An' some of you are right, maybe I am going a little hard on Pur. But Pur's my favorite Tallest also (my bishie ^.^), an' that's why I make him the center of attention...Even though that center is being the victim of an incurable disease...or is it? I know you Purple-lovers want to eat my head off, but be patient. I'm not promising any miraculous recovery (sorry, Kri...), but you'll have to wait an' see what happens.  
  
I'll give you some hints to lower your suspicions. Maybe one of them is right...:  
  
a. Red goes insane and founds a theme park named "I Am the Cheese Man"; Purple gets better but is fused with the test tube, so ultimately he is dubbed "Test Tallest",  
  
b. Purple morphs into a hawk using the powers of a blue box* and becomes a super hero; the Massive crashes into a phantom planet and the Irkens are chased around by badly animated robots,  
  
c. The two Tallests are transported back in time to stop the spreading of the disease; unfortunately, this happens on Earth in the time of the "cavemen" so Red and Pur have to try to lower themselves to the primordial ooze people's standards,  
  
d. Peprik starts crying, a chunk of a diamond falls out of her eye; she uses it to heal Purple and restore peace to all. Theme music? "If you believe...in the power of love...you've got to believe...in the power of love...it brings meaning to each moment, it's what our hearts are all made of..."  
  
Yeah. No brainer.  
  
Keep reading! I enjoy your reviews and use the flames to burn writer's blocks!  
  
Chapter Six: Operation  
  
Purple shifted uneasily in the new test tube he had been transferred to several days earlier. Peprik had explained to him that the operation was going to take a while, and the tube he was previously in was too small for all the equipment they were going to use. This was similar to a thick, wide square, and Purple could barely move because he was on his back. He cursed to himself, wondering why it felt so constricting when it was supposed to be larger than the circular tube. However, he was relieved to be floating in a new type of liquid that was easier to breathe in. It was cold to the skin, but went through the lungs almost as easily as air.  
  
The tube was flanked by his internal system monitors on the right and a life support unit on the left. The various equipment carts were scattered around the room. Purple amused himself by watching the doctors rush in, almost crash into them, and push them away into other doctors. But now, several hours before the surgery, hardly anyone was making a sound in the medical wing.  
  
Purple crossed his arms and gripped his shoulders. They were talking about him, all right, just not where he could hear. Soon after Red delivered the news to him that he might have a month or two before dying, the medical wing Irkens told other Irkens on board, who then told others. Every Irken on the Massive knew about Purple's disease now, and they were unsuccessfully trying to get to see Purple's virus. Peprik and a few other respected doctors had forbidden Irkens to talk about it in front of Purple. Purple didn't understand why. It didn't really bother him.  
  
He took a slow breath, a habitual process when he learned that if he breathed normally or faster than normal, his heart would start to palpitate and all hell would break loose in his lungs, sending him into a siege of inhospitable agony. Learning that took practice. The hologram screens that monitored his internal areas hovered in front of him. The thick white stuff now covered most of his aorta and upper lung area, with the unnatural black shadow below. The pressure build was minimal; that's what scared the doctors. It could gather to the point that the vessel would collapse before he felt the slightest bulk of the mass. Peprik had frankly told him that the operation had a slight chance of the operation not being a success, but that had worried Red more than it had Purple...  
  
A door opened and closed behind him. Voices floated gently by, and the sound of a cart being wheeled in his direction immediately gave him a good guess.  
  
"Neo, put the equipment over there. You, Xenro, get the anesthetic ready for administration. Oren, put the disinfectant...anywhere. Just not where we can fall over it."  
  
More movement. Something was standing over him. Purple looked up. Red's claret eyes stared sadly down at him.  
  
"Hey..."  
  
Purple grinned weakly. "Secret operation?"  
  
Peprik jumped up on the table next to Red, smiling. "Yup!" she quipped happily. "We don't want the press in on this. It might aggrivate your condition."  
  
Purple rolled his dusty lavender eyes. "Oh. It's alive?"  
  
Peprik slipped a pair of disinfected latex gloves on. "Oops. Did we forget to tell you? I hope it doesn't take too long...so we're starting three hours early...an' Red's gonna stay to watch!"  
  
Purple's expression fell. "You...you are?"  
  
Red nodded. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."  
  
"I would prefer you did..."  
  
Peprik pushed Red towards the door leading up to the upper observation room. "Don't worry. If he starts making faces I'll stick him with the tranquilizer."  
  
"Good. Can you do that to me, too?"  
  
"Already have." Peprik closed the door after Red.  
  
Purple looked down. A needle was being withdrawn out of his arm by a robotic appendage. "Thanks for the warning."  
  
"I didn't want you to get nervous."  
  
Peprik began to prepare the machines for the operation. She connected a thin plastic tube to the side of the tube he was floating in and dragged her finger across a hologram screen. Purple saw a slit to the side of him open up, and light blue fluid flowed in and mixed with the stuff he was already "preserved" in. "This the knock-out stuff?"  
  
Peprik nodded and slipped a mask over her face, hiding everything except her eyes. "You'll be out in a minute. Anything you want to ask before I go in?"  
  
Purple nodded slowly. "...Will I be able to get out of this tube? I'm going to start pruning."  
  
Peprik smiled, shown by the crinkling of the mask she wore. "I hope so, my Tallest."  
  
Purple's breathing slowed, and he sighed and lay still. Peprik's expression fell. If this didn't work...  
  
"...God, I hope so..."  
  
o.O  
  
Six Hours Later...  
  
Peprik sat in the chair, convulsing and shaking her head from side to side. Her yellow eyes were swollen and dry, and she clutched her legs to her chest.  
  
Nothing worked.  
  
Oren and Xenro had departed to go explain to Red, but nothing would help.  
  
The operation was a failure. Purple's aorta was too coated with the virus to remove quickly enough, and when she had tried to burn it off with the laser, the artery had ruptured and the black spores had poured out of the white mass and into his blood stream. Any time they could react to anything in his internal systems...and then...  
  
"Damn you, Peprik. You're not worthy of the title," she hissed to herself, raking her hand across her eyes. "You..."  
  
The alarm went off, stating that the anesthetic was wearing off. He was waking up...he would have to know...  
  
Peprik looked at the newly-sewn scars on Purple's chest, black and pinched. His eyes were closed, but underneath the sunken lids were his eyes...unknowing...  
  
The main door flew open. Red loomed in the doorway, his body hidden in shadows. Two crimson rectangles glared at her; she realized he was blaming it on her...  
  
"Tell."  
  
Peprik raised herself out of the chair and looked over her shoulder at Purple's still form. Her Tallest. She smiled grimly, ignoring the demands from Red. It was too late to save him. He would have to live the last months waiting for it to happen...and when it came...  
  
She blinked back tears. When it came...  
  
...She would be ready.  
  
O.o  
  
Nne is sorry for not updating in weeks!!! I had a writer's block the size of the moon on my head and it didn't go away for a while...so that's why this chapter's so short an' boring!  
  
Purple: So make the damn thing better!  
  
Nne: I'm building suspense! I promise the next chapter will be up soon! 


	7. Month Three

...so sorry again! The last chapter didn't get anything across except that Pur was gonna die anyway...so I'll make it up to you with this one! Writer's Block is gone (hopefully), so I can type lots for your enjoyment!  
  
Pur: Make sure this one isn't boring.  
  
Nne: You didn't even help on the last one!  
  
Pur: It's your fic!  
  
Nne: You're the main character!  
  
If you let me finish the fic without jumping to conclusions, it'll be more...purposeful. *grins*  
  
Pur: Impatient human stinkbeasts...  
  
Nne: You can't blame them...I'm putting you through lotsa pain an' madness.  
  
Chapter Seven: Month Three  
  
All Purple could hear was the quiet stirring of fluid in the tank, wrapping itself in cold swirls around his bare skin. He shivered uncontrollably, but his gray skin was burning with fever. Trying to sleep was now impossible; closing his phlegm-covered eyes hurt like hell because the black spores were perched in small groups throughout his body. The room was dark, but the chrome machines captured the light of the tank's lower luminosity bars, mimicking the soft blue glow.  
  
Purple shifted, uncomfortable. He watched, emotionless, as the heart monitor raised silent alarm of heart constrictions. The holograms were always operating now, and they surrounded the entire back of the tube. He twitched his welted antennae, trying to pick up the presence of any Irken in the premises. Sensing only the thrumming of the Massive, now on its way to the Crystalline perimeter, he lifted his thin arms and folded them, lowering his chin. Half closing his eyes, he started humming to himself. He needed to be told. Even Red had refused to inform him of how the operation went. He had woken up to a hysterical doctor and a pissed-off partner, then had collapsed out of exhaustion. He had been on life support, they told him, for the past week or so. When he had inquired why, the doctors merely saluted and walked away.  
  
So he waited. He was supposed to find out if it was a success or failure today, but it was halfway into the afternoon and he still hadn't found out. Chewing his lip, he looked at his battered body. If he was cured, it wasn't supposed to hurt this much, was it?  
  
The light above him flickered on. The door on the far end opened slowly, and light poured into the room. A small group of doctors approached him, Peprik in the lead.  
  
Peprik stopped before him, saluted, and bowed. Her eyes were confused and filled with grief. The look hurt Purple more than the verdict afterwards.  
  
"My Tallest, it's good to see you awake again. I was afraid you were going to be placed on life support again." Peprik smiled, then her lips had a spasm and she bent her head. "Now you can...you can..."  
  
Peprik's eyes brimmed over with tears. Purple, taken aback, looked at the others flanking her. "Is she crying because she's relieved or crying because I'm not going to shake this off?"  
  
Peprik lurched off of the ground. "Damn you!" she cried, launching herself at the tube. "I hate you! I tried, damn it! I can't save you! You won't make it! I knew the freakin' thing would best me! You helped it! You didn't get better...yo...you..."  
  
She collapsed against the recuperation tank in a quivering ball, sobbing. Purple smiled gently. He bent down as far as the tank allowed him and placed his hand on the glass. "Peprik," he whispered, "you did great."  
  
Peprik sniffed and looked up. "No I did...didn't," she hiccuped. "You're not...going to...get..."  
  
"Shhhhh," Purple soothed. "I know. I know."  
  
"So I failed you. I failed you...and now..."  
  
"Peprik, you kept me alive."  
  
Peprik started. "What? No...I didn't..."  
  
"Yes, you did. When I first found out that this couldn't be cured by any serum we had, then I despaired. I didn't show it, but inside I knew that impending doom was upon me. When you kept testing me, you said I had to trust you or else it wouldn't work. You kept pressing me to fight it, and I did. I would have been dead long ago if you weren't there for me."  
  
Peprik blinked. She wasn't there for him. She spent all of her time out in the examination room, or experimenting...  
  
"Sir?"  
  
Purple had straightened up suddenly with a stifled gasp. "So...sorry...I need..."  
  
"My Tallest, what's wrong?"  
  
Purple rammed his fist into his throat. "I can't...breathe..."  
  
Peprik stumbled over to the console and rotated an orb. The other doctors, feeling they were of no use, silently exited the room. Peprik looked at the recuperation tank to see white fluid rush in and be guided up to Purple's mouth. "Take a deep breath," she ordered, leaning against the console. "It'll clear soon."  
  
Purple opened his mouth and tried to suck in, but lapsed into a violent fit of coughing. Blood seeped out and was quickly filtered. "I'm...try...ing..."  
  
Peprik lowered a lever and rotated the orb again. "This'll help. It'll sting, but at least you're not hacking-"  
  
Peprik raised an invisible eyebrow as Purple threw his head forward and a large white-yellow ball flew out of his mouth. He looked sheepishly over at Peprik, panting. "Uh...heh...I'm not a regular smoker?"  
  
Peprik laughed. "Right...I'm glad. Can you breathe again?"  
  
"Not well, but better than usual."  
  
"Wait...better than usual? What does that mean?"  
  
Purple blushed, bringing back slight color into his pale face. "I'm just suggesting that I feel clearer than before."  
  
Peprik became worried. "How much clearer?" "Significantly. How's that?" Purple grinned. "At least I'm not bent in half vomiting."  
  
"Thank Irk for that." Peprik scratched her antennae. "I shouldn't worry so much about you. I'm treating you like a smeet."  
  
Purple cradled the back of his head with clasped hands. "It feels good to be pampered again."  
  
Peprik twirled herself around in the chair. "I remember when I was in training to become a General Practitioner, most of the higher doctors would harass me because of my height. Constantly I thought of dropping out and becoming a janitor aboard one of the Flagships. At least I would be with my own kind, basically."  
  
Purple raised an invisible eyebrow. "There is significant difference between heights on Irk..."  
  
Peprik nodded. "Once, I begged the Main Doctor to purposely dismiss me because the threats had gotten so bad. She refused, of course, and said that she would send me to you two-the Tallest-to be disiplined.  
  
"That alone scared the hell out of me, so I returned to my studies and pulled through to rise above the rest."  
  
"Nice story."  
  
Peprik turned red. "I'm sorry. I get carried away."  
  
Purple shook his head. "No, really. I liked it."  
  
"Would it be too much to ask if you told me one of your successes?"  
  
"I'm afraid we haven't had much success with anything lately. The Crystallines have been refusing to participate in the Galactic Search...or whatever it's called...and the rest of the planets are running out of things to do. Of course, the Invaders have complete control over them, but if they're watching over a useless chunk of rock...What's the use?"  
  
Peprik, suprised, turned to Purple. "What? The planets are a symbol of our power!"  
  
"Ah. And what happens when the planets are idle and hesitant?"  
  
Peprik opened her mouth, then closed it.  
  
"It makes the Irken Empire seem idle and hesitant, also. See how that works?"  
  
"Yes, my Tallest."  
  
"Don't be upset. We're not going to fail any time soon."  
  
"I wasn't thinking about that," Peprik countered. "I was just wondering...  
  
"What happens when our forces can't hold an enemy back?"  
  
Purple was just about to answer when the heart monitor alarm beeped for the second time. Peprik turned to shut it off, then swiveled back to face Purple. He was looking past her, though, with a willing look in his eyes.  
  
"Peprik?"  
  
"Yes, sir?"  
  
"Something has been bothering me for a while now, and I think it would be better if you left right now. You can come in later, but I don't want you hearing this."  
  
Purple's skin was turning ashen, and she saw that his chest was heaving and shuddering involuntarily. She shook her head. "I can't leave you. Are you going to be sick?"  
  
Purple half-nodded, then shook his head "no". "I've had this once before, and it scared me. I think you'd be better off going somewhere else."  
  
"What happened to you? Why didn't you-"  
  
"You're going to find out........" Purple hissed, glaring at her warningly. "Don't say I didn't-"  
  
The words were cut off by gurgling, and Purple started a gagging motion. Peprik believed he was going to throw up, but she glanced at the monitors. The heart was almost completely stopped, squeezing miniscule amounts of blood out of the crushed aorta. The lungs...  
  
"Oh God..."  
  
The black spores were moving. They were digging into the lung tissue, and soon they would tear it apart-  
  
"That wouldn't have happened before!" she shrieked. She raced over to the automatic respiration machine and rammed the connection wire into the side of the tube. Pounding the link button, she watched as thick wires burned holes into Purple's body and connect themselves to Purple's lungs. The spores quivered, then began to dig harder into her Tallest's lungs. They would not hold for that long. If the lungs couldn't hold the air, then what was the point of helping him breathe? Blood poured out of the overactive vessels and over the white virus, staining it pink. The heart monitor was still serving the alert. Overwhelmed, Peprik connected a life support machine up to the tank and rushed over to the electricity console. Cranking a lever, she watched as two arms lowered themselves levelly with Purple's chest cavity and send a straight line of electricity into Purple's heart. It jumped and slowly increased activity. She watched it slow. The computer sent another jolt; the heart skipped and pumped several irregular beats. Again, another slow, desperate pump from the heart before performing inefficiently, again, another shock from the probes. The spores had slowed down, but at each shock they spread out over the lungs. Again. Again.  
  
Watching intently, waiting for her Tallest to awaken, Peprik kept a safe eye over the health stats. She was not letting him go.  
  
...  
  
Scary, no? So sad...and where's Red? I don't know! I'll put him in the next chapter, but I hope this was an improvement from the last!  
  
Pur: No kidding.  
  
Nne: Yay! Month Four is rising! 


	8. Month Four

Nne: Last chapter! Last chapter! Last chapter! La--  
  
Pur: Shut up! We get it!  
  
Nne: I feel I am disappointing the readers of Purple Mountains Majesty. Am I? Huh? Huh?  
  
Pur: Probably. You're killing me.  
  
Nne: Ah. ^^ Okay. I'll continue. Enjoy the finale!  
  
Month Four  
  
Red made his way over to the medical wing, winding through the crowd of Irkens that blocked the hallways leading to the room where Purple had been moved to. It was in the bowels of the medical wings, surrounded by rooms filled with new equipment and experimental items. Peprik had been reassigned to another patient, reportedly causing too much grief for Purple. The original plan was to hide Purple from any other Irken except Red and a few doctors, but Red had argued, saying that it was BS to hide Purple, like it was some sort of game. Peprik's overseer had consented, and put the ailing Tallest in a more conspicuous room, without Peprik knowing.  
  
Red shoved an Irken aside and pushed open a side hall door, leading to the janitorial rooms. He turned and floated down a hallway until he got to a door that had Purple's name scribbled on the top. He entered, and the first thing he saw was a startled doctor fleeing the room from the opposite side. Purple, in the tube he was originally placed in, had his arms crossed. A small flame gleamed in his dull eyes, but he looked frail and shaky.  
  
"What did you do this time."  
  
Purple whirled on him, blood flowing from his left arm. "Why the hell did you let them take Peprik away? She didn't do anything, damn it! What freakin' grief?"  
  
Red shook his head. "I couldn't do anything, Purple."  
  
"Yes you could! You're the highest rank! You're not sick!"  
  
"The problem is," Red snapped back, "you are." "But that doesn't make any sense! How does that incorporate into what your orders are?"  
  
"They care about you, so they make decisions on what they think is best for you."  
  
"Maybe they should ask me first, because I know what's best for me. Didn't you think of that, genius?"  
  
Red looked at his infuriated partner. Pur was breathing hard, and blood was leaking out of the sides of his mouth. "Maybe I care."  
  
Purple's features softened. "I appreciate it, Red. But you know that I--"  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
Stonily, Purple turned away. "I thought so. You're going to be a jackass just because Peprik gives me more comfort than you do. I'm not asking anything from you, Red. Support, maybe, but nothing more."  
  
"I'm not shunning you because you ask too much. I can't act myself around you any more. It's like I'm talking to another person who doesn't even know me..."  
  
Purple started to choke. Blood pooled out. "No...you're not used to this kind of treatment."  
  
"Treatment?"  
  
Purple smiled grimly, his teeth barely showing behind thin, quivering lips. "Ignored. Alone. The feeling you get when you know nobody's backing you up."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about? The whole Armada backs me up!"  
  
"Ah," Purple sighed. "Does it back me up, too? Or has it entirely flocked over to you?"  
  
Red blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "I see what you're getting at, mister 'I'm so special because I'm sick'. Fine. I'll tell the whole Armada that you'll be better in a week, how's that? Then, when you die, we'll throw you out the airlock and I'll make a life-sized plushie of you and prop it up next to the main computer! There! No leader can die!" "I didn't say that! Where the hell do you get these ideas! I--" he gasped and bent over. "--I was barely implying that you should start telling the Armada to be prepared? Do they even know? Or have you hidden the truth from them?"  
  
"Of course they know! The whole Armada's had to take a detour because the trip would be too long and grueling for you!"  
  
"I didn't say it was," Purple answered. "Who made that up?"  
  
Red glared. "The pilots, stupid."  
  
"Oh, yes, I'm psychic! Bow down before me."  
  
"Your sarcasm pisses me off," Red retorted, "but I'm not going to waste precious energy arguing. I'm going up. See you later."  
  
Red raised his hand as he turned his back to Purple and exited the room. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least the fellow Tallest had not lost his spirit. Turning, Red floated down the chrome hallway and into the mess hall, where a small group of Irkens sat at various tables, trying to force some yellow mush down before their lunch break ended. One of them looked up, then elbowed the Irken sitting next to him, who hushed the rest of the group.  
  
"It's okay, I'm leaving," Red called as he got a slushie out of the freezer. "Continue."  
  
...  
  
Peprik peered over her friend's shoulder, hunched down in the booth. "Is he gone, Oren?"  
  
Oren swallowed the yellow lump and grimaced as it slithered down her throat. "Yes...blug...I hate these eggs."  
  
Peprik poked at her plate. Oren was slightly heavyset and shorter than she was, but no matter how much Oren hated the food's taste, she always got in on the better share. "I can't eat. Don't you want mine?"  
  
Oren looked over in disbelief. "What, you want to make me sick?" She picked up another sporkful. "Besides, I've got mine." Peprik sighed, then dropped her spork. "It doesn't feel right, Oren. I was trying to help."  
  
"He don't get it," Oren stuffed another blob of eggs into her mouth. "'N besize, 'e neva wanted 'ou t' 'elp Tallest Purple 'eneway."  
  
"That's a load of BS."  
  
Oren swallowed. "...That's what I heard. Don't believe me word for word, but I wouldn't go waltzing with the machinery any time soon..."  
  
Oren got up and stretched. "If you'll excuse me, I'm getting some juice. I hear it's good...like exotic oranges?"  
  
Peprik followed Oren over to the liquid dispenser. "Do you think he was uncomfortable with me?"  
  
"Look, P-rik, I don't know. Don't you remember the petty arguments they had the few hundred years or so of joint ruling? Red had wanted to kill Purple." She held the cracked plastic cup under the nozzle and pressed the button. Gray orange slices squeezed out, followed by a light nectarine- colored liquid. Oren, suprised, pulled the cup away. "Looks like I got last."  
  
"What do you mean? That was hundreds of years ago! They patched things up already."  
  
Oren carried the cup back to the table. "So? Scars last a long time."  
  
"They're Tallests, Oren. Leaders." She sighed and leaned back in the booth. "But what did I do?"  
  
"Nuthin'," Oren claimed, putting another forkful of the remaining eggs into her mouth. "An' you know it, don' you?"  
  
Peprik didn't answer. Instead, she watched a group of doctors run past, practically leading Almighty Tallest Red by the hand. He had a confused and scared expression on his face, and the doctors were chattering nonstop. "What's...happening ?"  
  
Oren looked up, trying to gag down the juice. She shrugged. Peprik slid off of the booth and ran to the door, trying to see where the doctors were taking Red. They made a hard right and disappeared into the "Practitioners Only" hallway.  
  
I'm a practitioner, she thought grimly. I've got to see where they have him.  
  
Bursting out of the door, she collided with a scared looking doctor with a beginner's badge on his orange uniform.  
  
"Ex...excuse...me," he stammered, getting up shakily and offering his hand. "How...clumsy...of me..."  
  
Peprik denied the help and brushed her uniform off. "Where were you going?"  
  
The young doctor pointed to the hallway. "There's been an emergency. Almighty Tallest Purple's lapsed into a beginning brain dead state. I've got to go deliver this relaxation medicine--" he held up a small vial with a yellow liquid splashing in it-"--so the doctors can try either save him or let him go."  
  
Peprik involuntarily seized the vial and stumbled into the practitioner's hallway. She heard a low moan from one of the rooms, and threw open the door. Purple was twitching, his head bent back, staring at the ceiling with quivering, dull eyes. Red was standing next to the tube, pounding on the side and cursing Purple with everything he could think of. Doctors were rushing around, shouting orders to each other, in a total state of chaos.  
  
Purple choked, spitting up white-spattered blood. His chest heaved, but rose and fell with haunting irregularity. A machine was breathing for him, oxygenating his blood, even though his lungs had ragged holes in them.  
  
This is insane, Peprik thought, clutching the vial. Why is this happening?  
  
She rushed forward and pushed a doctor out of the way. She needed to get this medicine in.  
  
^^  
  
Purple writhed. He couldn't feel, smell, or see. Black clouds were dimming his vision slowly, creeping around the figures surrounding him.  
  
I'm becoming a vegetable, he thought with disbelief. Leader of the Irkens?  
  
Realizing that he was allowing small moans to escape from his lips, Purple clamped his mouth shut. Dimly he could hear a familiar voice...  
  
"Damn you, worthless leader! You were supposed to outlast me for a hundred years or more, asshole! If you go now..."  
  
The voice became distant. Then...  
  
"Sir? Tallest Purple, can you hear me? It's Peprik? Remember? I'm giving you some sedative..."  
  
At the word sedative, Purple tried his best to avoid the steadily approaching robotic arm. Sedative meant that the doctors would concentrate on what he was acting like. Dishonorable.  
  
Go, Purple.  
  
Purple shook his head, dizzy. Hearing voices was not good. Flinching as the needled entered his skin, the dying leader watched as the yellow fluid entered his torn vein.  
  
It won't work.  
  
"...Lo...look..." Purple spat out, turning his eyes in the direction of Peprik. "It's...not go...goin...t...help."  
  
She shook her head. The activity in the room stilled.  
  
"Not true," she whispered, letting her hands hang at her sides. "You've made it this far, we're not letting you go now."  
  
Purple swallowed the growing lump in his throat. His strained heart slowed. "...Tried for four...months and noth...came..."  
  
Dammit, Pur, he hissed to himself. Think!  
  
"Purple," Red warned, floating up behind Peprik, "you're not making this situation any easier." "It...doesn't need...to be...easier..." Purple stammered, tears coming to his eyes. "I'd like to remember someday..."  
  
Peprik looked down, unsuccessfully trying to supress sobs.  
  
"...Will you do it?" Purple whispered, listening to his slowing heartbeat. His vision clouded. "Make it on your own? You were a better single leader..."  
  
Red pressed his claws up to the glass. Purple tried to lift his arms, but only succeeded in going half way before he convulsed and stopped. "Talk to me, Red," he pleaded. "Promise?"  
  
Red closed his eyes. When had the world come to a crashing halt? How? Only yesterday they were beating each other up for control of the curly fries...  
  
Purple hit himself in the chest several times. "Red!"  
  
"I..." Red lifted his crimson eyes to look into Purple's searching lavender ones. "...Promise."  
  
Looking relieved, Purple settled back. "...Than...I know...you'll...d-"  
  
His words were cut off abruptly. Curling up in an agonized smeet's position, he gasped, "Guess I've got to get in shape?"  
  
Red rolled his eyes. "Bad humor, bad day, Pur."  
  
His partner lifted his head. "I'm seeing fuzz...where are you?"  
  
"Right here," Red tapped the glass in front of Purple's face. "I'll always be there."  
  
"Except...fo...stops..." Purple's antennae quivered.  
  
Red bit his lip. It was obvious that Purple was delirious.  
  
"I'll...miss..." Purple rolled his head around to try to strain to see Peprik. "Than...you...you saved my soul...because you cared..."  
  
"You are my Tallest," she answered quietly. "It was my duty to try to save you."  
  
"I owe you everything," Purple whispered back. "If anyone bothers you, ask Red...I'm sure he'll fix it..."  
  
Peprik saluted. "Yes, sir. I will try."  
  
Purple looked at the rest of the doctors. "I owe you all so much for trying to save me. I wasted four precious months of your lives, and I am grateful for..." he stopped, looked around, confused, and was silent. Red tapped the glass. "Pur?"  
  
The heart monitor was barely showing any activity. Red shook his head. "No...no...no...no...Purple, wake up..."  
  
Then...  
  
"Red," a slow whisper was uttered. "To you comes the power we divided. I took your time most of all...please...forgive...me..."  
  
"You didn't do anything wrong," Red sighed. "I was the power glutton."  
  
Purple's shadowed face alit with a smile. "Keep on going. I'll be backing you up..."  
  
"...for all time."  
  
The monitor went flat-line. Emotionless, Red watched as the doctors removed the electrodes from Purple's body. The machines were stored again, and the health stats were shut down. All that was left was a dimly-lit room and the body of a dead leader. Red looked down at Peprik.  
  
"He knew."  
  
Peprik nodded. "I tried."  
  
Turning back to his partner, Red stood still for a moment.  
  
"Sir, are you going...to...miss him?"  
  
Red did not alter his gaze.  
  
Peprik hardened.  
  
"...Yeah. I'm gonna miss him."  
  
"It went too quickly." Peprik turned to go. "I wish I could have done more."  
  
Strange attitude, Red thought as he listened to Peprik go. Stubborn as him...  
  
He watched Purple, still, silent, and cold.  
  
"...for all time?"  
  
Red grinned weakly.  
  
"Start now."  
  
^^  
  
Oh, God, that SUCKED!!! I can't believe the stupid ending on this fic! I was planning it for a year! Huge disappointment to me, but fortunately I won't be writing any more like this one (too classic? Nah, too hard to follow), but I'm not done with writing fanfics! ^^ I guess I was a little too carried away with this one...ah, well. Look for my other fanfics that will be up soon...  
  
Nne an' Purple, Almighty Tallest of Irk and Nne's victim of pain 


End file.
